Disney and Pixar Employees Detail Life with John Lasseter: Strip Clubs, Close Hugs, and “Boxers or Briefs?”

John Lasseter is one of the most powerful figures in animation—nothing short of a living legend. With the 60-year-old taking a leave under the cloud of admitted “missteps,” past and present employees of the company are telling their stories.

In March 2010, days after another triumphant Oscar ceremony for Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios, the company’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter, was the subject of a tense phone call among Disney and Pixar executives, one person on the line recently told Vanity Fair. During the conversation, which included Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios president Ed Catmull, Walt Disney Animation Studios production chief Andrew Millstein, Disney corporate communications chief Zenia Mucha, and others, the group discussed Lasseter’s behavior at an Oscar party, where the executive allegedly French kissed and fondled a female Disney employee. (That employee, who is no longer with the company, has not responded to multiple requests for comment.)

“The subject of the phone call was, ‘Shit, what are we going to do about John?,’” one person who was on the call told Vanity Fair. “Lasseter is the crazy-horny 13-year-old who you have to keep in check all the time. But there’s no No. 2 for John. He’s the beating heart of Disney Animation and Pixar. He’s a genius. Nobody can do what he does.”

Lasseter, 60, is married with five sons. He has been the leading figure in animation for more than 20 years, likened to a next-generation Walt Disney, and known for his Hawaiian shirts, exuberant hugs, and childlike enthusiasm. As one of the company’s earliest employees, he helped turn Pixar into a creative and commercial powerhouse, directing its first feature film, Toy Story. When Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006 in an all-stock deal, Lasseter assumed leadership at Walt Disney Animation as well, leading the then-foundering studio to a renaissance.

On Tuesday, he became the latest in a line of powerful men in Hollywood, media, and politics to face allegations of sexual harrassment or misconduct. In a memo sent to staff and obtained by Vanity Fair, Lasseter announced that he is taking a six-month leave of absence from his job running Pixar, Disney Animation, and DisneyToon Studios. (The Hollywood Reporterfirst reported allegations of misconduct against Lasseter.)

“It’s been brought to my attention that I have made some of you feel disrespected or uncomfortable,” Lasseter said in the letter. “I especially want to apologize to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form.”

According to interviews with more than 10 current and former Disney and Pixar employees, Lasseter often crossed boundaries with them, particularly when he had been drinking. One former male employee described traveling to a film festival with the executive and being asked to bring him to a strip club. “He’d get dances and point at me to pay for it,” the employee said. “I was supposed to entertain him. It was so uncomfortable. He liked to have a good time. He liked his wine.”

Female employees describe discomfort with Lasseter’s physical affection, which included close hugs, and kisses on the lips if a woman failed to turn her face in time. “After one of those hugs, we’d joke to each other, ‘Boxers or briefs?’” said one former Pixar employee. At a recording session, she described an encounter that led her to feel strange around her boss. “He leaned into my monitor and whispered into my ear, ‘You look so beautiful, that light in your eyes,’” the former Pixar employee said. “It was the way a lover would talk to you. I remember him touching my back or leg or knee and just feeling . . . ugh. And then we talked about the work.”

According to one current Pixar employee, rumors have circulated within the studio over Inside Out and Up director Pete Docter taking the helm. Employees at the Emeryville-based company on Tuesday were reeling from the news, trading gossip, and coming to the realization that the culture has been toxic for several years, the employee said.

Once part of Lucasfilm, Pixar spun off as its own company in 1986 after a major investment by Steve Jobs. The studio has long been known for its testosterone-fueled culture, dominated by a close-knit group of male animators who attended the prestigious Valencia-based and Disney-founded California Institute of the Arts. (Lasseter was the second student admitted to the Character Animation program in its first year, 1975.) The environment, created by men who had been more successful drawing women than dating them, alienated some women trying to break into animation.

“You were there in your place, being a girl,” said the former Pixar employee who described Lasseter whispering in her ear. “It minimized your point of view. There’s a reason that more women haven’t been creatively successful there. The leadership are men. They relate all in a certain way.”

A request for comment from Disney had not been returned at press time.